Adele Maciute recieves Dyrssen Award for best marine Master's thesis

What is your master thesis about? 

"My thesis is about nematode worms, the most abundant animals on Earth. They are adapted to live in essentially all habitats including extreme environments such as oxygen deprived sediment. It is, however, challenging to study nematodes due to their minute size. As a result, we don’t have even basic information about nematodes such as its respiration rate."

"Thus, the overarching goal of my MSc project was to construct and describe the incubation system that can be used for measuring respiration of single microscopic animals, called meiofauna. These animals are larger than 0.04 millimeter but smaller than 1 millimeter. With the help of this method I investigated variation in respiration rates among nematodes and for the first time quantified how much nematodes contribute to the total respiration at the bottom of the Baltic Sea."

What do you do now? 

"I have recently started my PhD at the University of Gothenburg under the supervision of Stefano Bonaglia. My PhD thesis revolves around meiofauna diversity and contribution to the marine sediment functioning. Thus, I am sure that the method described in my master will be useful in determining the role of meiofauna in a range of ecosystems."

How will you use the prize of 10 000 SEK?  

"I would like to invest in my new hobby - open source electronic projects. For example, one of my goals is to improve current nematode incubation system by getting high precision stepper motors so that I could make automated respiration measurements."

"In addition, I am eager to take kitesurfing lessons here in Göteborg and so to take the best out of living on the west coast of Sweden!"

Finally, how does it feel to get the award? 

"Just like any of other MSc student, I faced many challenges throughout my project. Thus, after receiving the nomination letter, I feel even more motivated and encouraged to continue working in spite of difficulties that are yet to come."

"In addition, I feel truly grateful to my MSc thesis supervisors at Stockholm University: Stefano Bonaglia, Francisco Nascimento, Oleksandr Holovachov and Elias Broman."